The battle of Stalingrad consisted of two periods. The first defensive period of the Stalingrad strategic defensive operation (17 July - 18 November 1942). The operation was conducted by troops of Stalingrad (the don), South-East (Stalingrad) fronts with the assistance of the Volga military flotilla and a corps of the Stalingrad area air defense (PVO). During the fighting the Soviet troops advanced, entered the office of the South-Eastern front, the five divisions of combined arms armies and two control tank armies, 56 divisions and 33 brigades. The procedure lasts 125 days. The width of the front of the fighting – 250-520 km Depth of the withdrawal of Soviet troops – 150 km.
In fierce defensive battles and battles in the great bend of the don, at Stalingrad and then the lines and in the city itself, had not only broken the offensive power of the enemy and exsanguinated main strike grouping of the German army on the southern wing of the Soviet-German front, but also prepared the conditions for the transition of Soviet troops in the decisive counterattack.
Second period – Stalingrad strategic offensive operation (19 November 1942 – 2 February 1943). The operation was carried out by troops of the southwestern, don, Stalingrad fronts, as well as the left wing of the Voronezh front, with the assistance of the Volga military flotilla. During the fighting the Soviet troops have been added to control the 1st and 2nd guards, 5th shock, and 6th armies, five tank and three mechanized corps, six brigades. Duration of surgery was 76 days. The width of the front of the fighting – 850 km Depth advancing Soviet troops – 150-200 km daily Average rate of occurrence: shooting compounds and 1.5 – 2.5 km; armored and mechanized units – 4-4,5 km away.
Within the Stalingrad strategic offensive operation were conducted the following front-line operations: the November offensive to encircle Stalingrad grouping of the opponent ("Uranium"), Kotelnikovsky, Srednekanskaya ("Small Saturn") operations and that the operation to eliminate encircled enemy troops at Stalingrad ("Ring").
During the fighting, Soviet troops surrounded and destroyed the main forces of the 4th Panzer and 6th field German armies, defeated the 3rd and 4th Romanian, took a heavy toll on the 8-th Italian army. Enemy losses amounted to more than 800 thousand people, 32 divisions and 3 brigades were completely destroyed and 16 divisions suffered heavy losses. Only during the liquidation of the surrounded grouping from 10 January to 2 February 1943 was captured more than 91 thousand people, including 2,500 officers and 24 generals. The victory at Stalingrad was the decisive contribution to the radical change in the great Patriotic war and had a decisive influence on the further course of the Second world war. The red Army seized the strategic initiative and kept it until the end of the war.
Tags: war , USSR